While Daniel P. Schrag, White House climate adviser, tells the New York Times that “a war on coal is exactly what’s needed,” so far the Obama administration has been a boon for U.S. coal exports. Last week, the Department of Energy reported that coal exports have more than doubled during President Obama’s tenure, and exports to Asia went from 2 percent of the total to 25 percent from 2007-2012:
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While US exports still make up on a tiny sliver of Asia’s coal imports (less than 4 percent), that is up from almost nothing in 2007, and if anything, the trend has accelerated in 2013, as the report notes:
The report concludes that several factors including demand, U.S. port infrastructure, and the cost of U.S. coal will impact the future growth of U.S. coal exports:
